Classical Radio in a Sea of Talk

Published: April 21, 2002

National Public Radio's changes in the classical music area are part of a carefully crafted effort to better serve the public radio music listener. Our signature classical music program, ''Performance Today,'' will be reformatted but will remain a showcase for symphonic, chamber and solo classical music performance.

The principal change, in response to a six-month research and consultation effort, will be to emphasize music performance and de-emphasize the long-form interviews that many feel interrupt the programming flow.

We are also developing, in partnership with member stations, a classical music stream that will complement our current offerings and provide another option for public radio stations to present listeners with sought after, high-quality music and cultural content. Classical music remains a vibrant part of public radio, and NPR will continue to seek to improve its service in this area.